Growing Up is a Learning Experience
by Lyra Kamiya
Summary: Sequel to UnIdentical. Sokka and Suki's children, Hakoda and Kirima, are now 16. Hakoda tries to coach his younger cousin, Tenzin, on how to handle girls, while Sokka comes to terms with the fact his daughter is growing up. Based off a ten minute ficlet prompt on tumblr, though it took more like two hours.


**Prompt: **Could you do another one about Hakoda and Kirima maybe when they are older like around 16 and Koda is teasing his cousin Tenzin about dating Lin or giving him dating advice and Kirima is getting the talk from her dad? - _DaraMakoza_

**A/N: **You're making me blend headcanons together in odd ways I hope you'll forgive lol. Also I'm really excited now that I know you're the original creator of these two, and not just a random fan of them! I haven't read your original story of them, so I don't know what they're like in your version, but I did spot that your story existed. Thanks for letting me run with your characters 3  
I'm officially pinning the twins as three years older than Tenzin, making them a year younger than Bumi and three years younger than Kya, which are all just my headcanons. So they're 19/17/16&16/13/12 as far as all the kids go in this story. And Zuko's daughter (Who I'm calling "Jasmine" in honor of Iroh until we get an official name for her) is probably 20?

* * *

**Growing Up is a Learning Experience  
**_Lyraeon/Lyra Kamiya_

"Damn, Tenzin, what happened to you?"

Tenzin winced as his cousin threw his arm around his shoulder. He'd already had to explain his day and the resulting injuries - including what he suspected was a dislocated shoulder - to his older brother, and wasn't really in the mood to discuss it with Hakoda too. "Girl trouble," he mumbled, trying to keep it brief.

Hakoda had to think about this for a second - after all, his sister was off with their dad on one of their crazy shopping adventures, so that eliminated the usual source of Tenzin and Bumi's injuries.

"…Wait a second. You really did it?"

Tenzin's eyebrows raised, the left one giving the extra twitch it tended to when he was upset but too polite to say so.

"You asked Lin out?"

"I think I'm a little young to be dating… I still have three more levels of airbending to master."

"Oh man, Bumi was right! I can't wait to tell him-"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm too young to be-"

Hakoda scoffed, cutting him off. "Dude, your dad got with aunt Katara at your age."

"Yes but that was differen-"

"So if you didn't ask her out, what did you do?"

Tenzin gritted his teeth, trying not to let the color rise in his face. "We were _just talking_, that was a-"

"YOU KISSED HER, DIDN'T YOU?"

"No, I didn-"

"You totally did! You sly weaseldog! High five!"

Hakoda held his hand up for Tenzin, only to get knocked back several feet by the gust that rushed out when the airbender stomped his foot. "Koda! Would you let me finish?" he demanded, glaring at his cousin, who had barely managed to retain his balance.

"Whoa…" Hakoda scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm just happy for you."

"Don't be," Tenzin answered. Most of the red had faded from his face, but now he clearly looked embarrassed rather than enraged. "I do like her. I've just… got other things to worry about."

Hakoda gave a solemn nod before affectionately rubbing the shorter boy's bald head. "Yeah, gotta get you that arrow. Which is really too bad, because you'd look awesome with a wolftail."

"…You think so?"

"That's right, you don't remember. You had one until you were about three or so. Aang shaved it off after the first time you airbent. My dad was absolutely devastated."

"That sounds like uncle Sokka alright." Tenzin managed a slight laugh at the idea, and Hakoda broke into a smile at his success.

"Come on; let's get your mom to fix you up. Unless you want me to take a crack at it?"

Tenzin blinked, but followed his cousin anyway. "I thought you said healing was a woman's job?"

"Yeaaaah…. that was until Kya froze my feet to the ceiling and left me to hang upside down. She froze my hands together too, so it took me a while to bend myself free." He mimed his hands being bound.

Finally, Tenzin smiled.

"By the way… _she_ kissed _me_."

"Whaaaaat? Then why did she beat you up?"

"I don't know. Her mom just laughed and said to ask your dad, that he'd understand."

—

"Now the key is, you have to remember everything your mom taught you about self-defense."

"Dad. I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. I'm _fine_ at self defense." Kirima paused, studying her father's face for a second. "Wait, what does self-defense have to do with boys, anyway?"

"Because boys are all evil jerks and none of them can be trusted," he said sagely, crossing his arms. "…And some girls are, too. Just in case you like th-"

"DAD!"

"I just want you to be safe, okay? I don't want you getting hurt by any stupid boys. Not until you're _at least_ 30, and especially not while you're still a teenager. Teenage boys will only break your heart."

"You mean like how you broke mom's?" Sokka opened his mouth to object, and Kirima held her hand up, signaling she wasn't done. "_Three _times."

"First of all, she also broke mine once, AND I broke her out of jail, so I'd like to think we're even, and secondly, _how many times do I have to tell you not to listen to auntie Katara's stories_?"

"Dad…" Kirima sighed, losing her patience. Her father was a great man, and served well as Republic City's representative for the Southern Water Tribe, but he also had a knack for long, pointlessly meandering stories. Sometimes she liked to use this to her advantage, distracting him away from lectures she didn't feel like hearing, but today she was too annoyed by him to try. She had accepted his offer of a shopping trip under the hope of getting something nice to wear to her graduation. Now it had turned out to be nothing more than a trap, so she just wanted him to get to the point already.

"Look, Kiri. You're not a little girl anymore. You're almost a woman."

She rolled her eyes. Almost. She was sixteen. She was still fairly sure the law, passed three years earlier, moving the legal definition of adult from sixteen to eighteen, was at least partially motivated by her and her twin brother's 13th birthday. After all, Sokka had been the one to suggest it.

"If we still lived at the south pole, I'd already _be_ considered a woman."

"Not with that attitude! And that's exactly my point! You're a warrior, you've got so much strength, so much potential… You can't let some stupid boy mess that up."

"Dad…"

"Or girl!"

"_Dad!_"

"I'm just trying to cover all the bases! Besides, girls can't get you pregnant!"

"Da-" Kirima choked for a moment when Sokka's words hit her, and she covered her face with both hands. "SPIRITS, _DAD_! Are you really trying to have _th__e talk_ with me? Is that your problem?"

He sputtered for a moment, and then cleared his throat, trying to maintain some amount of dignity. He'd definitely gotten better at it over the years, especially since the incident with the council when she was ten, but he still had a hard time staying serious when it was just him and his family. "Yes, Kiri. I thought it was time we had the talk."

"Did it even occur to you that downtown wasn't the best of places to do so? Or that Kya and mom might have already gone over everything with me?"

Sokka stared at her for a moment. At the blue eyes that shined when she was angry like his sister's did; at the piercing red eye shadow she insisted on wearing even when not in Kyoshi uniform; at the finger she was shaking in his face, with its distinctive calluses from training with a metal fan; at the tiny scallop earrings she wore, which had been gifts from Katara to Suki for their wedding, and gifted again to Kirima on her sixteenth birthday.

Not for the first time, he wondered if she'd inherited anything from him at all. Everything about her made him think only of Suki, of Katara, and of the faint memory of his own mother.

"No," he sighed, gently taking her hand and lowering it, "and I'm sorry. I didn't know they'd talked to you already."

Her face fell at the sight of her father's sorrow. There were more insults waiting on her tongue, but suddenly Kirima understood he was just trying to be protective of her, to feel like his only children weren't turning into adults right in front of him. She thought quietly of Hakoda senior, their grandfather, and how old he was getting, and wondered if her dad wasn't starting to feel a little old himself.

"…Daddy?" she asked quietly, squeezing his hand.

Sokka looked surprised - she hadn't called him that in years. "…Kiri?"

"Will you buy me some iced fruit? If you do, I'll let you keep telling me how stupid boys are."

He cracked a grin. "You're hearing about that, iced fruit or no, young lady. But, it sounds like a fair trade."


End file.
